Chicken Noodle Soup – Csirkehúsleves
Nothing quite like a bowl of homemade Chicken soup. It’s medicine for the body and it warms both the heart and the soul.
Chicken soup is very versatile. You can drink a mug of broth on its own or eat a big bowl full as a main meal.
Left over stock is ideal for improving any other dish you care to make, either as an addition to a sauce, to moisten left overs you are re-heating.
Chicken Noodle Soup - Csirkehúsleves
The Only Chicken Soup Recipe You Will Ever Need!
Ingredients
- 1.5-2.5 kg chicken
- 4-5 medium carrots
- 2-3 medium parsnips
- 2-3 garlic cloves
- 1 Whole onion
- 1 Bunch of Spring Onioin
- 1 Bunch of curly parsley
- 1 Kohlrabi root
- 10-15 whole Peppercorns
- 2-3 Tablespoons of Salt
- 3-4 Litres water
Instructions
- Separate the chicken (breast, thighs, wings, drumsticks, etc.), remove most of the skin and fat. Wash and prepare the root vegetables (peel the carrots, parsnips, celery root, kohlrabi). Cut the carrots and parsnips lengthwise into spears, cut the celery root and kohlrabi into two or three cubes. Remove the parsley stems.
- The Onion and garlic will go into the soup whole - no need to chop these. Remove the core and leaves from the cauliflower, but keep it in one piece, as it is easier to take it out when finished, and easier to serve.
- Put the chicken, vegetables, pepper corns, salt into a large pot, and add 3-4 L cold water. Use enough water to cover all of the ingredients and to allow for evaporation to occur during the cooking process. Bring to a boil, then cover half way and simmer on low to medium heat for 1.5-2 hours.
- Remove any brown foam from the surface with a spoon. Remove and discard the onion, whole tomato and pepper slice. Removing the garlic is optional.
- Add more salt and pepper if needed.
- Serve it with fine egg noodles or matzo balls, or on its own.
- Notes
- Use a whole chicken with bones. The bones will add the real flavour to the soup.
- A combination of Spring Onions, Brown Onions, Kohlrabi and Celery root are ideal, but use whatever you have at home or prefer. While you can substitute the celery root with a bunch of celery, but once you smell, and taste celeriac you will likely be converted.
- To store the soup: filter the soup into containers, putting the meat and the vegetables into separate containers. Before reheating the soup, you can remove and discard the excess fat from the top of the liquid or leave it as it. Its tastier this way and the thin layer of fat on top of the soup will help to keep it hot, then pour the soup into a pot, and place the vegetables and meat in. Always bring the soup to a boil and let simmer for a few minutes before serving.
- If you wish to remove more fat from the soup before freezing, place the broth into the fridge for a few hours, this will help the fat to rise to the surface where it can be easily removed.
- How we serve this soup in Central Europe
- A chicken soup is a whole "Meal", not just a soup. It makes a whole two-course dinner when we serve it in Hungary.
- I serve the broth first, with noodles (boiled separately – don't boil them in the soup!) and vegetables. I put a spoonful of noodles into an empty bowl, then I add some vegetables (a carrot, a parsnip, a celery root, some parsley, whatever you want), and then I pour on the hot broth.
- For the second course, the chicken pieces are served whole with roasted and boiled tarhonya, farfel or Israeli couscous and sour cherry or plum compote on the side. You can usually find these compotes in the European section of any larger supermarket. The farfel can be substituted with any other kind of pasta, or boiled potatoes or skipped entirely.
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Key Take-Aways
Unlike Baking which has fairly tight tolerances when it comes to the amounts of each ingredient and cooking times and temperatures, soup is very forgiving. Within reason, you can adjust just about everything to suit your preferences.
While I do suggest you make the recipe at least once as is, once you have some experience with the process, future runs will provide you with plenty of opportunities for experimentation. Have fun!
- Substitute Whole Chicken for a Combination of Drumsticks and Wings for a faster prep time
- Add in Mushrooms and your choice of root vegetables.
- If you have left over vegetables either cooked or raw they can be heated or boiled in stock for a quick and delicious variation
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